Wine Tasting Tips

When tasting wine, choose wine glasses with a tulip shape so when you swirl the wine, the aromas you set free are better contained within the glass.

When pouring the wine, fill your glass about one-third of the way; this will allow for enough room for swirling the wine and tilting the glass. It also allows space for aromas to build.

Look at the color and depth of your wine. When you look at the wine, sometimes it helps to hold a white sheet of paper behind it to set off the color of the wine. Tilt the glass a little to get a good sense of the wine stretched across a longer plane. Some descriptors used for the appearance of wine are; bright, dull, clear, dense, hazy, luminous, flat, deep, and opaque.

Taste the wine. However, do not swallow the wine until you allow it linger a bit in the mouth. Let the flavors wash over your palate. Some questions to ask yourself: Do you find that the first flavor sensation remains constant? Or change? Were the flavors the same as the aromas you picked out? Do you have a sense of the wine’s acidity? Do you have a sense of the wine’s alcohol content? (A highly alcoholic wine is often described as “hot.”) Is there a drying sensation in the mouth? (That indicates the presence of tannin.)